The MHeart Vinotinto Foundation hosted Cesar Guerra and Daniel Rodríguez, in a live performance of Venezuelan salsa music on Saturday, June 28, at El Mesón. The show opened with Cuenca’s own salsa dance group, Cachumbabé. The joint was jumping. The evening was sponsored by, José Briceño, who has lived in Cuenca for over 16 years. […]

As you are probably aware, Cuenca has been blessed with a large number of immigrants from Venezuela, many of them young, well-educated professionals. Jackie and I have made friends with a group of 20-something Venezuelans who are loosely related. All of them are fully employed. One 26-year old man is a licensed medical doctor in […]

I have been enchanted with Cuenca since the day I arrived. I’ve also been writing about Cuenca since my earliest days. This article was originally printed in CuencaHighLife. Among the principle roles a newspaper plays in society is serving as a community sounding board and as a place where an exchange of ideas take shape. […]

Funny how time often changes our perception of things. It doesn’t necessarily change the things that happen. It’s just that information gets added on top of what we thought we knew that makes us see things differently. Over the last few months, a lot has come out in the Ecuadorian press with regard to some […]

This morning I had a long talk with my buddy Jesse who lives in Thailand. As I’m sure you’ve caught in the news, there has been a team of 12 young soccer players and their coach trapped in a cave in northern Thailand for 11 days now. Thankfully they have been located. They are in […]

There’s good news for people interested in investing in real estate in Cuenca, as the market comes out of a three-year slump. Many expats are attracted by Cuenca’s modern infrastructure. The anticipated growth of this unique UNESCO Heritage city is explained by what Cuenca already has: beautiful mountain views, four scenic rivers that encircle the […]

Ecuador’s poverty rate has dropped from 38.3% of the population to 24.2% since 2006, according to a United Nations Report on Worldwide Poverty and the Ecuadorian Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC). “The government of Ecuador has made a priority of reducing poverty over the past decade and the results are impressive,” says the UN […]

Long before Cuenca was a #1 destination for North American retirees, before Saturday nights in the city offered revellers dozens of restaurants and bars, there was a group of rogue professors from Ecuador, Peru and the States who loved the place. These teachers, each one an adventurer in his or her own right, started to […]

During a Thursday morning meeting at the Presidential Palace in Quito, U.S. Vice President Michael Pence and Ecuador’s President Lenin Moreno agreed on a wide range of topics, including the fight against illegal drug trafficking, rooting out corruption and establishing new bi-lateral trade agreements. On Pence’s top issue, the isolation of Venezuela, the two leaders […]

A new bylaw to improve the public transport service of urban buses in Cuenca was approved by the cantonal council July 9. With its approval, the companies that operate city buses must fulfill a 30-point plan to improve their service, all with the goal of increasing the bus fare to 31 cents, with the last […]

A reader asked, “Is white rice good or bad for you? I rarely touch the stuff, but my Ecuadorian friends keep telling me it’s good for you.” Yes, Ecuadorians do eat a lot of white rice, compared to North Americans. However, Ecuador’s consumption pales in comparison to Asia. Rice is the most widely consumed staple […]

The news comes in busloads from Venezuela. It seems that every day exposes another open wound, more injured children, greater hardening of hearts and minds. There are those who shrill, “The country needs to be made great again,” and, “We’re sick and tired of being ignored while being robbed of our cultural heritage.” There are […]

Jackie and I joined another couple looking for a convenient place for a late-night snack and some drinks in a pleasant atmosphere. We weren’t interested in the usual loud bar scene, so we decided to give Simon 7-84 a try. It turned out to be a good choice. Simon 7-84 is located, conveniently enough, at […]

As a member of the Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics, I have as colleagues some of the most accomplished Registered Dietitians in the world. Today’s guest columnist is Nancy Clark, MS, RD, CSSD. Nancy Clark is an internationally respected sports nutritionist, weight coach, nutrition author, and workshop leader. She is a registered dietitian (RD) who […]

Despite its diminutive size, Ecuador hosts the largest number of refugees of any country in Latin America. In fact, it hosts more than all other Latin American countries combined. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), there are 62,000 refugees in Ecuador, more than 90 percent of them from Colombia, forced to […]

If you’re considering moving to another country to work or retire — even if you’re just planning a vacation abroad — be sure you understand the health insurance requirements before you go. Foreign residents will soon pay more for medical care. In a growing international trend, countries across the world are requiring that foreign residents, […]

Although a great deal has been reported about the growing number of North American and European retirees relocating to Latin America, relatively little has been said about the impact those expats have on their adopted communities. Also largely unreported are the changes that living in foreign cities has on expats. Learning more about the relationship […]

Judge Guido Chalco confirmed last week that the Movilízate electronic card will be the only means of payment for passengers on Cuenca’s municipal bus system. The ruling overturns a May order by another judge that the system must also accept coins as payment. Adrián Castro, manager of the city transportation office (EMOV), applauded the ruling […]

Well, we did it. And we will now get complaints that we did it. I know we will, but hey, that’s okay because that’s part of our business and I’m glad someone finally had the guts to ask us to let them do it! So what did we do? Well, turn to page 6 and […]

  Over the past year, I’ve presented in Cuenca on “best” and “worst” diets for weight loss. I always focus on eating for energy, and if you’re working out, to fuel your fitness. So when I saw a recent report on the inability of ‘Biggest Loser’ contestants to keep their weight off, it struck a […]

This is a response to Michael Soares’ June 10 “I’m Just Sayin’” column about climate change. I think he only presented one side of the story. By Jerry Egge I was one of the fortunate few who survived the new ice age with which we were threatened with in the 1970s. It was going to be […]

Researchers from the University of North Carolina need your help. A UNC team is in Cuenca gathering information about international retirement migration. The project, funded by the National Geographic Society, is focusing on several large expatriate communities in Latin America, including the one in Cuenca. The researchers are asking expats to complete an online survey […]

Etched into the high desert of southern Peru more than a millennium ago, the enigmatic Nasca lines continue to capture our imagination. More than a thousand of these geoglyphs (literally, ‘ground drawings’) sprawl across the sandy soil of Nasca province, the remains of little-understood ritual practices that may have been connected to life-giving rain. Now, […]

Tram construction crews are returning to Cuenca’s historic district but the city says work will be completed within weeks this time. “Businesses along the train route on Calles Mariscal Lamar and Gran Colombia will not see the protracted delays of 2015 and 2016 when streets and sidewalks were torn up for months,” says city spokesman […]

Centro Sur Regional Electric Company (EERCS) of Cuenca received the Punto Verde (Green Point) award given by the Environmental Ministry to public and private companies that have sustainable procedures. The award ceremony took place in Quito. The winning project was “Implementation of a Photovoltaic Solar System Connected to the Matric Building Electricity Network”. The EM […]

I have been enchanted with Cuenca since the day I arrived. I’ve also been writing about Cuenca since my earliest days. This article was originally printed in CuencaHighLife. y apartment is usually very quiet, but there was a lot of commotion in the building the other morning. A nice young couple, whose balcony overlooks the […]

A SPANISH galleon laden with gold that sank to the bottom of the Caribbean off the coast of Colombia more than 300 years ago was found three years ago with the help of an underwater autonomous vehicle operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the agency disclosed for the first time. New details about the […]

As the founder of Best Places in the World to Retire, I’ve heard many of our expat contributors say that one reason they moved abroad was to “reinvent” themselves. And based on what they’ve told me, I’d say it’s easier to reinvent yourself living abroad than while you’re living in the United States. New scenery, […]